California Central Coast Campgrounds

[G1obetrotter]

We are gonna go down to andy's in corona, ca in september and are looking for a nice campground in the san simeon-pismo beach area. if you know about a nice place please let me know. a site with electricity would be nice but not mandatory, we dont need a full hookup, but, a little juice would be cool.

[G1obetrotter]

man, is everybody on vacation around here or what? i know somebody out there has 'streamed the california coast. i'd love to hear about it. ho,ho,ho!

[OB Bambi]

Problem is Hwy 1. Not exactly a freeway. I've made the trip from Carmel to SLO. Always trouble with anything longer than a Coleman pop-up. So my guess is that Airstream folks tend to avoid it. I do know that there is a camping site just south of San Simeon and north of Cambria. I was up there a few years ago and saw it, but I can only remember tents there. Are you going to Hearst Castle? Maybe something at Moonstone Beach.

Randy Bowman

[BeBop]

I don't know about campgrounds, but...
Pismo Coast Village RV Resort
Pricey... yes
Nice... yes
Easy Access... yes
Would stay there again?... yes

[ASwifey]

Pismo Coast Village. Very nice, close to everything. We really like it. We find that it's not any more expensive than any other park in the area. We just stayed in Malibu for $100+ per night, that was expensive!

Pismo State Beach right next door to Pismo Coast Village. No hook ups, but is also close to everthing, right off the beach, and a lovely park.

San Simeaon State park is about 1 hour north, is also nice for a state park, no hook ups.

[tpi]

A little over an hour south of Pismo Beach is Lake Cachuma. It is Santa Barbara county park with full, partial, and dry sites. Generally large sites and low $30s prices for full hookup with AAA. No reservations but mid week should not be a problem getting a choice of hookup sites.

A nice grassy campground with large oaks. 12 miles to Solvang.

Using highway 154 you can make this stop on the way for a hwy 101 trip.

[altamont]

There is a state campground just south of San Simeon and north of Cambria. You probably will need reservations but we had no problem with our 27 footer.

[G1obetrotter]

thanks guys, i knew you would come through for me. we are gonna take us101 down to the southland so we can avoid the beautiful yet tortuous coast road (hwy 1). this will be our first out of town towing experience. i am excited about it.

[kingfisher24]

I will be leaving Eureka, Calif Sept 12th and want to head down the coast and see the most of US 101 and Calif 1
and travel across the Golden Gate Bridge and make it to Hemet, Calif by Sept 24th..
.and then haul it to albuquerque for the balloon festival...

any suggestions as how to get this done...about 14 days with a two day stay ...leaves me with 7 destinations to locate

any suggestions????

thanks

[Gene]

And we may be going from Monterey to Morro Bay (more or less) on the Coast Hwy in late October. Yeh, I know the road can be hairy in places (and also true north of SF), but we'll do it anyway. There appear to be 3 private CG's in Big Sur—any experiences? None seem to have full hookups.

Lots of state parks along that stretch of road. Are they open? A quick glance the other night and it seemed like everyplace along the coast, including state parks, are very expensive.

King', in Gualala, great pizza at Upper Crust Pizza, east side of highway. Doesn't look like much on the outside, but as good as it gets. The highway south of Point Reyes Natl Seashore is not all that easy for RV's, but should be a little better going south (we went north). Generally going south along the various coastal highways is easier because you are not going around tight blind curves where the trailer is leaning into the rock and dirt embankments very close to the road. We traveled from just north of Venice all the way to Oregon 2 years ago and it can be stressful, but is well worth it. If you routinely go to places others say is too hard, this road is for you.

We stayed at a nice private CG near the entrance to Pt. Reyes—it's right on the San Andreas Fault—and one along a river just south of Gualala (the Gualala R. I think) in Cal. We stayed at a not nice, crowded, private CG outside of Mendocino. No state parks in Cal.—I think they were too expensive even then for what they had or weren't where we wanted to be.

Gene

[wilkes711]

Originally Posted by G1obetrotter

We are gonna go down to andy's in corona, ca in september and are looking for a nice campground in the san simeon-pismo beach area. if you know about a nice place please let me know. a site with electricity would be nice but not mandatory, we dont need a full hookup, but, a little juice would be cool.

Morro Bay State Park is beautiful, has electricity and is within walking distance of the town's restaurants, and most sites have gorgeous views of ocean and the estuary next to it.
We stayed at Cerro Alto just off Hwy 41 - no hookups, though it had beautiful hiking trails and gorgeous green surroundings with a serene creek.

Pismo is great but always crowded.

[Gene]

I just made reservations for Yosemite (Upper Pines CG) for nights of 10/18-20. There are still quite a few sites left. Then we'll go to the coast around Castroville and start south. I figure we'll follow Cal. 1 to 101 and go inland at Cal. 126 and make our way to Big Bear (maybe), Joshua Tree NP, and then home. We will try to do this in 16 days.

The "plan" is to stay at Yosemite for 3 nights, Big Sur 2 nights, somewhere south of Big Sur for one night—maybe a state park. We'll have to take Cal. 120 from US 6 near the Nevada state line to Lee Vining and across the northern part of Yosemite to get to the Yosemite Valley. Looks like a slow, winding road. It seems we'll be there a few weeks before snow season.

Any feedback on any of this?

Gene

[wkerfoot]

Gene,

Sounds like fun. Cal 120 (Tioga Pass road) closes early due to snow, the high point is almost 10,000 feet. Check the weather reports for an early closure. The only other way across the Sierras is US 50 south of Lake Tahoe, I 80 north of Lake Tahoe and way south around Mojave. Any of these routes will add at least one day to your travel to Yosemite, perhaps more.

The Tioga Pass road is in the Long, Long Trailer movie when Desi is throwing out Lucy's rock collection, before it was paved of course.

Bill

Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

I just made reservations for Yosemite (Upper Pines CG) for nights of 10/18-20. There are still quite a few sites left. Then we'll go to the coast around Castroville and start south. I figure we'll follow Cal. 1 to 101 and go inland at Cal. 126 and make our way to Big Bear (maybe), Joshua Tree NP, and then home. We will try to do this in 16 days.

The "plan" is to stay at Yosemite for 3 nights, Big Sur 2 nights, somewhere south of Big Sur for one night—maybe a state park. We'll have to take Cal. 120 from US 6 near the Nevada state line to Lee Vining and across the northern part of Yosemite to get to the Yosemite Valley. Looks like a slow, winding road. It seems we'll be there a few weeks before snow season.

Any feedback on any of this?

Gene

[1953 Flying]

We just stayed at Kirk Creek. This is probably my new favorite camp ground around the central coast. 5 wonderful days. It's a federal camp. You can make reservations at Federal recreation, camping and tour reservation information - Recreation.gov or if you happen through there mid week you'll most likely be able to get a first come first serve site. Here are some down sides of it. There are no hook ups what so ever, the water is non potable, no showers. It's about 45 miles south of Monterey on Hwy 1. With the size of you trailer you should not have any problems what so ever. As long as you take it slow and enjoy the views. The good... the view, the view, did I mention the view. It's one of a few actually located on the west side of Hwy 1.

[Gene]

Thanks Bill and Robert. I found a website that lists the winter closures on Tioga Pass Rd since the 1930's. Back then it would close in Sept. and early Oct., but in the last few decades it's the last day or two of October, November or December—except for 2004 when it was Oct. 17. It could still be snowy, but not closed for the season. The odds are with us, I think. The part outside the Park, east of Lee Vining, doesn't seem to be as high and may be high desert. I don't want to have to go around and will attempt to cross Utah and Nevada quickly.

I'm hoping to stay in Big Sur and don't know how far Kirk Creek is from there—sounds close. Several years ago, pre-trailer, we stayed at a combination private CG and cabins just north of Big Sur, or maybe in it, downhill from the highway on the west side; it may have been in a river canyon. The strange thing there was the obese guy in the trailer below us—we were in an A frame cabin up a hill. He was sitting at the dinette in his undershirt drinking beers (quite a few it appeared) and singing (badly and sadly) with the window open. It did not give us a good impression of trailer life.

Gene

[FreshAir]

We were staying in Kirk Creek when 53flying pulled in. We had been there for the week. We got there late morning on a Monday and 2 first come gets sites were available. We were lucky as this campground is popular The sites all have a view. Here are a few from our site #1.
Neil

[Gene]

Looks nice. Thanks for the photos.

Gene

[marzboy]

Originally Posted by wilkes711

Morro Bay State Park is beautiful, has electricity and is within walking distance of the town's restaurants, and most sites have gorgeous views of ocean and the estuary next to it.
We stayed at Cerro Alto just off Hwy 41 - no hookups, though it had beautiful hiking trails and gorgeous green surroundings with a serene creek.

Pismo is great but always crowded.

I agree with Wilkes711 Pismo is pretty overcast too. I like it but its not my favorite. There are alot of wineries in Paso Robles area, and San Luis Obispo is really beautiful. They have a farmers market that is more like a street party every Thursday night. Have a great time!

[johnnytrails]

Just got back from CA central coast trip. Stayed on the beach at Refugio State Beach (hookups) north of Santa Barbara (easy trip to Solvang wine country), then camped on the cliffs at Kirk Creek in the Nat'l Forest (no hookups) right next to 1953 Flying - beautiful sunsets and a full moon. Moved slightly south to Plaskett Creek (no hookups) - shady in the forest. Drove the length of Hwy 1, with the trailer, in the fog (did I mention that this was my 1st AS trip). Finished up on private land near Salinas Valley wine country. Hit the Flagstaff and Barstow (hot!) KOAs coming and going. Kirk Creek photos:

[1953 Flying]

Kirk Creek was a good trip this year. I was able to meet old and new friends. Johnny, I hope the rest of your trip went as smooth as Kirk Creek did for you.